The famous star Lionel Messi recently won a nine-year trademark lawsuit.

As we all know, the names of public figures such as football stars and celebrities have huge traffic, so for them, it is crucial to register their names as trademarks to expand their business territory. important.

In 2011, Messi first registered his surname "Messi" as a trademark for a sportswear brand. However, the registration of the "Messi" trademark was not smooth.

A Spanish company has registered the "Massi" trademark. The company believes that there is a risk of confusion between Messi's registered "Messi" and its own "Massi" trademark. As a result, the two parties launched legal proceedings.

Over the past few years, both sides have won cases, and the losing side has continued to file appeals. Until recently, the EU's top judge made a final ruling that a large number of the public would associate the Messi trademark with Messi, a well-known football player, and the Messi brand would not cause confusion among the public about the Massi brand.

At this point, Messi has finally won the "Messi" trademark and can carry out brand promotion with more confidence.

It is worth mentioning that Messi’s Chinese name "Messi" has also been registered in large numbers in China. Searching with "Messi" as the keyword, you can see more than 200 trademarks, including "Messi", "Messi", "Messi Card", "Mr. Messi", "Messi Duo" and so on.

In fact, in addition to Messi, "Cristiano Ronaldo" has also been registered as a slimming tea trademark. It is very common for the names of public figures to be registered as trademarks, including some current Internet celebrities and Instagram hosts, who may all suffer from trademark squatting.

In this environment, it is best for public figures to register defensive trademarks for their names or nicknames as soon as possible. If it has been preemptively registered, you can promptly file trademark objection, trademark invalidation, etc. applications to protect your own rights and interests.